The present invention relates to a system and method for conditioning food product. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system and method for providing a grill treatment to a prepared food product (such as sausage) that is then fully cooked in its packaging for the purpose of adding appearance, taste, and/or texture qualities associated with cooking the food product on a grill.
Prepared foods are sold in a variety of conditions, including uncooked, fully cooked, cured, and uncured. Fully cooked, prepared foods are typically fully cooked before being packaged.
When a food product is fully cooked prior to being packaged, it is also generally known to alter the appearance of food products to provide a more appealing and flavorful appearance, such as applying grill marks to hamburgers and chicken. Fully cooked, prepared foods may also be fully cooked after being packaged. Fully cooking a food product in its packaging has several advantages over fully cooking prior to packaging, including reducing or eliminating the use of preservative, extending refrigerated shelf-life, and decreasing the potential for contamination of the food product. An example of fully cooking a prepared food in its packaging is co-extruded sausage, which is manufactured by co-extruding meat blend with a collagen gel. The collagen is applied as a gel to an outer surface of the meat and is coagulated to provide an encasement for the meat. Coagulation typically occurs by subjecting the co-extruded strand to a brine (salt) solution to remove water content from the collagen gel, followed by one or more applications of heat and a chemical to cross-link the collagen gel to prevent re-absorption of water. The co-extruded method has several advantages over the traditional method of separately stuffing or packing meat into a natural casing, including lower cost (continuous manufacturing of product, cost of goods, decreased labor, etc.) and more consistency between products.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a system and method for conditioning food product. It would also be advantageous to provide a system and method for providing a grill treatment to a prepared food product (such as sausage) that is then fully cooked in its packaging for the purpose of adding appearance, taste, and/or texture qualities, properties, and characteristics associated with grilling. It would further be advantageous to provide a system and method for providing a grill treatment to a co-extruded meat product such as sausage. It would be desirable to provide for a system and method for conditioning food product having one or more of these or other advantageous features. To provide an inexpensive, reliable, and widely adaptable system and method for conditioning food product that avoids the above-referenced and other problems would represent a significant advance in the art.